


One in a Thousand

by Medie



Category: Fringe
Genre: F/F, Porn Battle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-26
Updated: 2011-01-26
Packaged: 2017-10-19 03:27:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/196364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medie/pseuds/Medie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Go out, go dancing, drink too much, laugh too loud, whatever you want, kiddo, just as long as it isn't <em>work</em>."</p>
            </blockquote>





	One in a Thousand

**Author's Note:**

> for this year's [Porn Battle](http://oxoniensis.dreamwidth.org/35812.html)

There's this little pizza place on the corner. The owner is this little Korean lady with a fondness for bad Harlequins and _fantastic_ wines. She lives above the shop with her husband, their granddaughters, and their cat Mickey T and, for Astrid, it's never too late.

On the bad nights, the nights when Walter, the Pattern, and Olivia's single-minded obsessions are just too much, the promise of dinner is a godsend. She calls first. She always calls first and when she drops by, it's with a bottle of something good and a book that's truly awful. May clucks her tongue at Astrid's tired face, laughs at the bag in her hands, and sends Astrid home with enough food to feed an army.

Some day, Astrid's actually going to eat some of the pizza. If it's as good as May's home cooking, she'll need be buying fat jeans by the dozen.

Tonight, it's just an old-fashioned long day and a bucket of chicken instead. She picks up dry-cleaning, a few things for Walter and Peter (they never ask, Peter always makes this face, flushing and mumbling thank you, but Astrid misses her brothers and, well, old habits) and the suits she used to wear at work. Cows and pinstripes don't mix, but Astrid likes to keep them fresh anyway. Never know, and all that right?

"You look tired," Irma says, handing over the bundle of laundry. "You work too hard, you know?"

Astrid grins, nods, and thanks her lucky stars for Irma. Anyone else, she'd expect the 'nice man' lecture as a follow up, but Irma's Irma. The one time Astrid asked, she'd sniffed and waved her off. "Now why would I go and ask a fool thing like that? You need to work less, baby girl, not _more_."

Tonight, Irma insists on helping Astrid to her car, chattering the whole time about 'that odd doctor friend of hers' and the bizarre stains in his shirts. Astrid's grin widens and she ducks her head. Somehow, she doesn't think sweet little Irma would understand.

She does, however, make a mental note to tell Peter. He needs to laugh more.

"More of that," Irma says, tapping Astrid on the cheek. "Do more of that."

Astrid drops her laundry onto the backseat. "More of what?"

"Smiling." Irma closes Astrid's door and leans against it. "Go out, go dancing, drink too much, laugh too loud, whatever you want, kiddo, just as long as it isn't _work_." She grabs Astrid's hands and squeezes. "Make a thousand mistakes as long as they keep you smiling like that."

Piece said, she smacks a kiss against Astrid's cheek and heads back inside.

Astrid watches her go and then, when she gets back into the car, she does as she's told.

It's a minute or two from her place, a glorified hole in the wall, but it has alcohol and, more important, it has CJ ("Cristiana Josephina―yes, my parents actually seem to love me despite the evidence to the contrary.") and her smile.

CJ is sitting at the bar when Astrid slips in the door. She's wearing tiny gold hoops, a plunging black sweater, and faded jeans. "You look like I feel," she says and pushes a glass toward Astrid. "On the house."

It's wine and it's _terrible_ , but Astrid downs it anyway.

"Thought so," CJ says. She leans the bar, resting her chin on her hand, watching as Astrid orders another glass. It'll be just as terrible as the first―this place is not the place to be drinking wine―but that's sort of the point and Astrid is under orders to make a thousand mistakes. Ordering bad wine qualifies. "We should complain about landlords and bad plumbing or something. We are technically neighbours after all."

Which they are. They live two doors apart. Astrid feeds CJ's cat and CJ waters Astrid's plants. They smile at the mailbox, keep each other keys, and do all the things that neighbours do, but never think about it beyond that.

The bartender brings the wine. Astrid looks at the glass. "We probably should," she says. "Then we can marvel about the coincidence of meeting here." She brushes fingertips along the stem of the glass, aware that CJ's watching the motion. "Then you can tell me how Bogey is and I can complain about work."

"But we're not doing that, are we?" CJ takes the wine, sipping at it. She licks at her lip, putting the glass back, and Astrid echoes the motion.

"Nope."

Astrid drops money on the bar and CJ grabs her coat.

They live in the same building, but, technically, Astrid's place is closer. She fumbles with her key, aware of CJ's presence behind her. They haven't even touched, but it doesn't matter. CJ's gaze is as real as any caress, resting solid between her shoulder blades, and Astrid shivers as she finally unlocks the door.

"This is probably the point," CJ says, following her inside, "where I promise I'm not a serial killer."

Astrid slips out of her coat, smiling over her shoulder. "And where I say I'm an FBI agent, I could handle it if you were."

CJ lets her own coat fall. Her smile is softer. "I wanted to kiss you the minute I realized Bogey likes you. He doesn't like _anybody_." She laughs. "Except that's a silly reason and, mostly, an excuse so I can not be freaked out by being attracted to a girl. Well, no, to a girl that's not on film and I'm totally talking you out of this, aren't I?"

"No," Astrid steps closer, reaching for CJ's hands. "I think it's cute." She pulls CJ into a kiss, teasing in her caution. "Just follow my lead."

It's corny, a mistake, and when CJ whimpers into the kiss, Astrid's sure it's the best she could make right now.

She takes her time with CJ, teasing and playing, until CJ's sprawled out beneath her, wrecked from her second orgasm of the night and on the verge of another. Astrid nuzzles into sweat-slick skin, her tongue dipping down into wetness and earning her another choked cry of pleasure.

CJ grabs for the sheets, fisting her hands in them, and Astrid smiles. She watches those hands clench and release in time with the movement of CJ's hips, then slips fingers into her. Her movements this time are slow and easy. CJ's sensitive, as sensitive as she herself is, and it won't take much to bring her over.

"A second on a hot stove―" Astrid says, laughing as CJ cries out. It's always over too fast, too soon, and she wonders if Walter has a device for slowing time. Stretching it out. Probably. Not that she'll ask.

Some things she just doesn't want to try explaining.

"A second with a pretty girl," CJ says, after a minute or two. She grins, lazy, and reaches for Astrid. "Relativity."

Letting herself be pulled into an embrace, Astrid throws a leg across CJ's and grabs for a blanket. "My favourite scientific concept." She pauses, then laughingly amends, "Right _now_."

"At the risk of ruining the afterglow," CJ says, fingers playing over Astrid's breast. It's a casual touch, with no promise behind it yet, and Astrid lets herself enjoy the sensation. "May I ask a question?"

Walter would have corrected the comment. Astrid just enjoys it. She nods, "I think so."

"I've never seen you there before," CJ says.

"That's because I've never been," Astrid replies. "Not my kind of place. The wine―"

"―is godawful," CJ says. She kisses Astrid's forehead, grinning a little. "I know. I keep telling him but he never listens." She shakes her head. "Anyway, I guess, I was wondering what brought you there tonight?"

Astrid smiles, tracing the line of CJ's jaw with her forefinger. "Orders to make a thousand mistakes."

"That makes no sense," CJ laughs, "but I like it."

"That's nothing," Astrid says, burying her face against CJ's neck. "Just wait until you meet Walter."


End file.
